


Five moments from five lives

by Jadesfire



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-29
Updated: 2010-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-08 10:04:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadesfire/pseuds/Jadesfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Caersmane.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Five moments from five lives

**Author's Note:**

> For Caersmane.

1\. The ring is a little too big. Everything's been such a rush, but with the expedition leaving in barely a week, there wasn't much choice. And she doesn't mind. The past two years have taught her what's important, and she's not afraid to claim it any more. As they stand on the town hall steps, showered with confetti, she half-expects to see a white head disappearing round the corner. It's not there, but she understands. This is quite enough adventure for her now, and Jo Jones, nee Grant, grins up at her husband and the rest of her life.

 

2\. It's a shock to realise a year has passed. A whole year; she's barely noticed. What with having to get herself home from Aberdeen, then trying to pick up her life where it left off (and what a great success that's been, Sarah Jane thinks wryly, looking round at the unpacked boxes in her tiny, bare flat), she supposes she just never paid much attention to the date.

She does now, though, circling in it her diary. It won't make a difference, of course. Nothing will. But at least it won't be able to ambush her like this next year.

3\. The first ten seconds are the hardest. Every breath catches in her throat and Tegan's head is swimming badly enough that she has to stop. Suddenly, she's sitting on the ground, head between her knees, trying to get the ground to stop spinning.

Then she's laughing at the irony because the ground is going to stay firmly beneath her feet from now on. This is it. The end. No more travelling, no more deaths. She needs to remember that. This was her choice and she refuses to regret it.

She lowers her head again and tries to keep on breathing.

4\. There are days Martha regrets her choice. When her parents still won't stop arguing, or Tish locks herself in her room (again) or Leo just won't stop asking question after question. It makes her miss her small, quiet room on the TARDIS, and even the Doctor's white-noise babble.

But then there days when she doesn't regret it, because she's done her share of travelling and saving the galaxy. Right now, she's got her eyes fixed closer to home. So she lifts her chin, pushes open the doors and takes her security badge for the first time.

Doctor Martha Jones. UNIT.

5\. It's a strange feeling, being the last. She promised she'd stay with the Doctor until this thirteenth body was- Well. Until the end. And having seen that promise through, she feels oddly adrift, as though the gravity that held her galaxy together has suddenly dissipated. She's met some of the others, the ones who'd had enough of this life and chosen to leave, to get out before they lost too much of themselves to this life. To him.

It's not usually him who does the leaving.

She dims the last of the lights and locks the TARDIS door behind her.


End file.
